Twilling's Blog Watching Triple H chase down Randy Orton was like watching a B-movie, Ricky Steamboat gives his best promo ever as Chris Jericho continues to shine By Rich Twilling Feb 25, 2009 - 02:06 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Wednesday, FEBRUARY 25 - 2:12 PM (CT) -WWE Raw had the task of trying to live up to, and even improve on, the very good rating from the previous show. The rating ended up being very high once again, and the show did a nice job continuing the big programs, but did they do enough to keep bringing the large number of viewers back? First things first, what the hell was that final segment between Triple H and Legacy? I am not one to be negative for the sake of being negative, so I'll start with some positives. Triple H never actually got his hands on Randy Orton. When he actually does, it will be more special. Okay, that is all I can think of. From the beginning, Orton looked like an idiot. Why would a heel drop the sledgehammer before the face? Orton should have waited for H to drop his, and then attack him. Secondly, the chase was corny. There were cameras in places where cameras should not be, and H just swung to hit things, many moments after Orton had fled. Also, why did it take Triple H so damn long to get to the arena? If someone hit their finishing move on my wife and I was that pissed, I would have been pacing around every entrance early in the morning, anticipating Orton's arrival. Lack of logic and sheer "B movie" effects brought down the segment for me. However, I am still very interested to see what happens next week, so I guess nothing was damaged. -How good was the segment involving Ricky Steamboat and Chris Jericho? Steamboat was never very good on the microphone and it showed early, as he stumbled through saying his WrestleMania III match vs. Randy Savage was the highlight of his career. You could tell, immediately after he made the comment, that he wished he would have called defeating Ric Flair for the NWA Heavyweight Championship the greatest accomplishment of his career. However, Steamboat then picked it up and he did so while simply speaking the truth about Jericho and his own career. I love it with sprinkles of truth are mixed into storylines. Jericho's facial expressions and delivery were spot on. Steamboat made very valid points and Jericho countered them well. I thought Jericho's line about Steamboat breathing fire was hilarious because I feel the same way about that incarnation of Steamboat's character. Granted, Jericho's timeline was a little off. He said when Steamboat beat Flair, he was just Ricky Steamboat, but he then came to the WWE and became Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. We all know Steamboat was The Dragon in stints sandwiching the run as the NWA Heavyweight Champion. The speculation continues as to who will face Jericho at WrestleMania. Will it be Steve Austin? Hulk Hogan? Mickey Rourke? Jerry Lawler? Ric Flair? Well, I hope it is not Flair, for obvious reasons. I am okay with the other four choices I listed. Time will tell, but give Jericho credit, it looked as though he would disappear into the upper mid card as Randy Orton gained steam as the top heel, but instead, he is still proving just how valuable he really is. Monday, FEBRUARY 23 – 4:00 PM (CT) -First of all, congratulations to both Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. While neither took home an Academy Award, both of them should be extremely proud for their performances in The Wrestler. Rourke is now Hollywood's comeback kid and it can be argued that Tomei is "back" as well. Many expected Rourke to win, but I had a bad feeling Sean Penn was going to get the nod. I am not a fan of Penn, but he is an amazing actor and did a great job in Milk. However, I feel Rourke deserved the award. -Last week, WWE Raw earned its highest rating in a very long time. Of course, the company was very humble and quietly accepted the news. Just kidding; WWE actually put out a press release to trumpet the success of last week's show. Hey, I don't blame them at all; now is the time for the shows to garner interest and gain steam. The question is: can they continue their roll tonight? When the WrestleMania card was rumored to have Edge vs. Triple H and John Cena vs. Randy Orton in the respective title matches, I was not that excited with those prospects. However, moving Hunter into a program with Orton, and involving Stephanie McMahon in the process, was a great creative decision. Jim Ross used the word "perfection" to describe the end of last week's show. The personal hatred Orton and Hunter have for each other, not to mention their history, makes for a damn good WrestleMania match. Much of the intrigue to me not only lies in the obvious, but I wonder how the match will be booked. Orton is the top heel in the company right now and despite being made to look weak by Shane McMahon and his "IED," he still has a ridiculous amount of momentum heading into WrestleMania. Triple H is fighting for the honor of his wife, brother-in-law, and father-in-law. Triple H has to win, right? Not so fast. Let's face it, Vince McMahon is an asshole. Stephanie can be a total bitch, and most people want Shane knocked out every time he dances out onto the stage. Sure, Triple H is defending his family, but do the fans really care? When Stephanie took the RKO, most people reacted by saying, "That was an awesome RKO!" There was no rage; there was no one calling for Orton's head. Sure, the storyline is playing out extremely well, but deep down, I would love to see Orton defeat Triple H for the title. H can get Orton later, as long as Orton remains the champion. The bottom line is: people will tune in tonight to see what Hunter does next. That is how to bring people in. -Also tonight is a huge match between Shawn Michaels and JBL, with the winner earning the right to challenge The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I mentioned in a Buy or Sell column last week that this made no sense, because Taker is a Smackdown wrestler and to my knowledge, he or Vickie Guerrero did not give their consent for this match. So, Vickie inserted Vladimir Kozlov into the deal. Whoopity freaking doo. I'll bottom line this: I am going to be pissed if the WrestleMania match is not Michaels vs. Taker in a one on one match. I would still be okay if JBL was inserted to make it a three way (I would not like it, but I could accept it). However, Kozlov belongs nowhere near this match. In the Member's Forum today, we talked about the possibility of a JBL vs. Kozlov one on one match at Mania. This would work for me, if JBL turned babyface. I think he could pull it off and it would definitely breathe some new life into his character. All in all, these two programs alone make Raw a very intriguing show tonight. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) (or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in iTunes App Store) FOR MORE BREAKING WWE & TNA NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE PWTORCH.COM (click here!) FOR MORE MMA & UFC NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE MMATORCH.COM (click here!) 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